Limited Edition Colnago Arabesque Frame Set

The Colnago Arabesque Frameset. Rare – Cool – and so Limited!

There’s a story you should know when it comes to the Arabesque. It was a much-loved frameset when it debuted 30 years ago. It rode well. It looked great. Sumptuous Chrome. Even to a pro, this was a tool you wanted to ride, but didn’t want to scratch in the work stand. It’s era done, Colnago moved on. Then, last year, they found a box of lugs. A fairly big box of lugs that joined the Arabesque’s tubes when the model was a regular part of the Colnago line. As the name suggests, the lugs were ornate. They decided they’d bring it back until they ran out of lugs.

That number is somewhere between 400 and 600 bikes worth.

Because of the place of the original Arabesque in the hearts of Colnago lovers, this time, Colnago is employing round steel tubes, rather than the star-shaped of the original. In fact, it’s the same tube set as found on the current Master. That’s custom-drawn DT15V steel tubes. As with the Master, the lugs and stays are chrome-plated. The bike also has the Prescia straight-blade chrome-plated fork.

This frameset is nearly all-in on the 1980’s design spec. The one exception is the one-inch threadless steerer tube. Otherwise, you’ll find: an Italian-threaded bottom bracket (the only one in Colnago’s line), a 27.2mm seat tube, a front derailleur hanger, downtube shifter bosses, and horizontal dropouts. The dropouts are chrome-plated and feature micro-adjusters, just as you’d get back in the day